Sonia turns to Tony Blair for some help in packaging

Sonia turns to Tony Blair for some help in packaging
ARATI R. JERATH

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 24: The Congress is seeking tips from Tony Blair's New Labour for its badly needed image overhaul. Natwar Singh, Anand Sharma and Salman Khurshid have been deputed by Sonia Gandhi for a five-day crash course in London, starting tomorrow, from the party that decisively ended the long reign of the Tories and looks set to sweep to another term in office this year.

``The New Labour made itself attractive to a new generation of voters in the 21st century without giving up its basic ideas and positions. We want to know how because we're also looking to attract a younger generation of voters within the framework of our ideology,'' explained Singh.

With the Congress plenary just three weeks away, the team hopes to pick up useful inputs for the ``new vision'' the party plans to unveil at the meet in Bangalore. A New Congress to take on the BJP, with a little help from friends in the UK.

The idea of taking lessons fron New Labour was first mooted by the late V N Gadgil and later taken up by Rajesh Pilot who make a strong plea for it in his controversial interview to BBC's Hard Talk programme.

Naturally, the Congress delegation is hoping to call on Blair. They will also meet Trade and Commerce Secretary Stephen Bayers who was part of the team of spin doctors credited with the creation of the New Labour.

But there'll be no meeting with the chief architect of the Labour Party's landslide win, Peter Mandelson, who recently resigned from the Blair Government because of his connections with the Hinduja brothers. Too controversial, is the Congress verdict on Mandelson.

Apart from Labour leaders and MPs, the team will also meet members of the Indian diaspora and kickstart the defunct Indian Overseas Congress. This is obviously an attempt to counter the influence of the Overseas Friends of the BJP and other RSS-VHP organisations which are proving to be successful lobbyists for the BJP abroad.

The chief areas of interaction with the Labour Party, said Singh, will be to explore how the party manages the coordination between its political body and the parliamentary party, its relations with the trade unions, its interaction with intellectuals and academicians and the structuring of its research cells.

``The general impression is that socialism is out of date. But half of Europe is governed by socialist parties. We need to dispel the misconceptionthat socialism is no longer in,'' said Singh.